


we're slow dancing in a burning room

by princecliffcrd



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Assassins AU, M/M, blood tw, death tw, strangling tw, violence tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 15:17:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2697638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princecliffcrd/pseuds/princecliffcrd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>he's in love with you<br/>and you're in love with him<br/>and it's like a goddamn tragedy</p><p>(or rather the fic where luke and calum are assassins who get assigned to kill the other)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. you breathe him in like smoke

calum is good at what he does.

it's not bragging, it's just a fact of life.

like how he only likes one packet of sugar in his coffee, and that he can't stand spy movies, and that one time he ate an entire jar of peanut butter just so michael wouldn't get any.

of course, calum has been doing his job for years now. it's an art, really, and despite the years filled with broken bones and near death experiences, he's never quite mastered it.

he's been assigned to kill the actual best assassin there is these days. his name is luke hemmings, and he's murdered over a thousand people in the u.s and even more in europe. he's been known to be persuasive, intellegent, and highly dangerous.

calum always loved a good challenge.

-

it's dark at the party. 

correction: it was always dark at the party. that's how these things usually ran after all.

it was how they were ran when he was seventeen and barely strong enough to hold a gun without feeling ill, much less watch the light leave someone's eyes as he had his hands around their throat.

luke tries not to think about it as he downs his first shot of the night, the burning taste barely even affecting him as he looked around the room and found his target. he was attractive, no lie. but luke refused to do romance anymore, he promised himself that much when niall found him and offered him this job.

he does another shot, hunches his shoulders, and walks over to where calum hood is leaning against a wall, no doubt looking for some clue of him as well.

-

to be honest, calum is very suspicious of the tall boy with bright blue eyes and a beautiful smile.

he's too innocent for the pumping bass of the current song played by the dj, his giggle too sweet and light against the moans and groans playing background noise to everything else.

but after a couple drinks have been pressed into his hand by who knows what, he starts to let his walls down just this once,

because he can't help but listen to this stranger's backstory about being an orphan at seventeen and not know who to trust. his heart flutters and beats as the low lights cast shadows across his flushed cheeks

calum gets a sick feeling in his stomach like this is some game he's been forced to play, but then the stranger places a hand on his shoulder, pulls calum close and whispers just the right thing to knock his breath away before pressing a kiss to calum's neck and sliding off to the bathroom, a smile on his face.

the thing is, he can't tell if that smile is nervous

or triumphant

-

luke knows he only has exactly fifteen seconds before calum follows him into the bathroom, so he looks into the mirror, takes a deep breath to prepare himself, and looks at his watch

five seconds

he looks at the door, counting down to the very second that calum enters, turning to lock the door

with calum's back turned, an impish grin crosses luke's face before being he moves to surprise calum, placing suddenly steady hands on his waist

his fingers easily move to undo calum's belt and he presses gentle, eager kisses to the other boy's neck

a small gasp escapes calum's lips as the belt comes loose. but luke doesn't drop it, instead moving his arms up and maneuvering the belt close to calum's neck

luke places another kiss behind the boy's ear.

the belt goes tight around his neck.

-

calum isn't sure what's going on at first.

the innocent boy with bright blue eyes and a beautiful smile is gone, replaced by a demon who whispers sweet nothings as he strangles the life out of him.

he's choking, struggling to pull his own belt away from his neck 

his arms get too heavy to hold up so calum just starts pushing backwards, letting the stranger's surprise be an advantage as calum pushes them back far enough to slam into the opposite wall and fall over.

rolling onto his back, he's still gasping for air as he forces himself to sit up and look the boy straight in the eyes. it all clicks in calum's mind as the boy with cold blue eyes and a grimace wipes blood from his nose and starts to get back up again

 _" -- luke"_ calum breathes, a confusing sense of betrayal clogging up his nose and choking him once more

-

luke stops, and he's not quite sure why he does

he wills every ounce of his being to not look in the mirror, because luke knows that if he looks at his reflection, he won't be able to look away,

he takes a deep breath and starts charging at calum again, intending to use his bare hands

but luke waited too long, and now calum's got his arms around luke's waist, throwing him into the wall again. 

luke can't breathe for once, the breath finally knocked out of him instead of it being the other way around

he wonders how he got here, to this filthy bathroom at a club in a town that he can't even remember the name of

-

luke is sitting against the wall, eyes closed and nose bleeding still

calum is doubled over, still not quite breathing properly.

he takes a deep breath, and reaches to pull the boy up and throw him against the wall once more 

but he suddenly sees a flash of blue eyes, and now calum is being gripped by the wrists and thrown backwards.

his back finds solid linoleum, and luke's straddling his hips, leaning forward to no doubt strangle calum again

and this time, calum doesn't fight back

-

something is wrong

calum's not trying to push luke away anymore

 _"what are you doing?"_ luke hisses, trying to convey an edge that him and calum both know don't exist anymore

calum just shakes his head,  _"not worth it"_

a fire ignites inside luke's belly, and he socks calum in the nose

who the  _ **hell**  _did calum think he was?

 _"go fuck yourself"_ he spits, punching the boy underneath him in the face again.

_and again._

and again.

he doesn't even realize calum is passed out until he sits back and notices that calum's breathing is even again, although a lbit shallow

-

calum wakes up to an empty bathroom and aches and pains everywhere in his body. 

dried blood cakes his face, and his left eye is swollen shut

anger fills him and he goes to look in the mirror to see a message waiting for him

-

_**last night was fun. come find me again? xoxo, l.h.** _


	2. and it tastes so good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> calum is stuck with a swollen eye and a message on a mirror
> 
> and somehow, it isn't enough

three years.

so much can change in that time, and calum knows it all too well.

-

luke's at a party when it happens.

he's not on a mission, hasn't been for a couple months now, when he had to make a quick escape and nearly broke his back jumping out a window.

he winces just thinking about it, and downs another shot right as a hand surprises him and slides around his waist, pulling him back slightly. 

luke has the stranger on the ground in ten seconds and immediately chastises himself for not being quicker, even though he hasn't been in a fight in months.

it's almost laughable how anyone in the club barely notices, too wrapped up in their own lives and adventures to pay attention to them.

at first, luke thinks it's just some guy trying to get lucky

but then the light hits the stranger's face just right and his breath catches in his throat.

_"calum?"_

-

calum supposes there's one thing about luke that's always consistent.

luke always knocks the breath of him, he did multiple times when they met three years ago, and he can still do it now.

and despite being flat on his back with the blonde's knee at his throat

calum laughs

he laughs at how messed up this is, and doesn't even regret it when luke whispers his name in shock and the knee digs a little tighter at his throat

 _"you know, i don't quite know what i was expecting when i went searching for you, and i'm kind of disappointed in myself that i didn't expect this."_ he chokes out, letting his hands rest at his side.

there's a couple seconds of pause before the pressure on his neck releases, and calum is being helped up

-

_breathe_

_just breathe luke_

he tries to calm himself down by this, give himself some sort of support from the harsh shock running through his body.

but the walls are closing in, and he can't do this, it's just not possible

calum notices his obvious discomfort and orders two beers, passing one to luke himself

luke takes a deep breath and cracks his own open, chugging half the bottle before setting it down. 

_"so, how'd you find me?"_

_-_

calum explains it all

it took him two years, six months, and four days to find luke,

and he did things he's not proud of to do so

most of it was pretty easy to get, considering calum is the only person to face luke and walk away alive. 

luke himself looks different, almost thinner than he already was, and worn.

he looks too worn for his age, too frail and exhausted

 _"how have you been?"_ calum asks anyway, like they're old friends from a lifetime ago.

-

luke's the one laughing this time, although it's bitter and cold like the wind outside the club

 _"well golly gee, i've been just lovely. how about you?"_ he's almost taunting calum, daring the other to question it

he finishes off his beer and orders another, running his tongue over his teeth

luke briefly flashes back to the night he met calum.

it was supposed to be the same old routine for him

but calum was charming

and he actually cared about luke's dumb backstory

it was so different and wonderful and

 _no_.

luke couldn't do this.

-

calum notices luke moving to leave 

so he acts on impulse as per usual and pulls luke onto the dance floor 

at first, the taller male is stiff, while calum dances beside him, his hands reaching to settle on luke's neck

calum leans in close to luke's ear

_"you kind of owe me a dance after you almost killed me, you know."_

for a second, a trace of a real smile crosses luke's face, 

he begins to relax, moving with calum like it was something they always did

-

he's not quite sure what it is

the music

the beer

the intoxicating way calum's looking at him like he's the only boy there

luke shouldn't be here. it's not the right time or place for this kind of thing

but now calum's leaning in, and luke decides that you can't determine the right time or place for anything

so he allows the kiss

the kiss turns to grabbing

the grabbing turns to moving to the bathroom

it's ironic really, and if luke wasn't being pressed up against the bathroom wall

his thighs wrapped tight around calum's waist

with hot, wanting kisses being pressed against his neck

luke might've laughed

**Author's Note:**

> i'd like to dedicate this to addy, who gave me the inspiration to write this  
> and also my otp cake, thank you for being adorable
> 
> sorry this sucks.  
> xoxo  
> callie


End file.
